Tonbridge District
					120 Club results
					Programme for 2012/13
					District officers
					Look to
					District towers
					KCACR shirts and stuff

The Trivia Evening 2012

The Tonbridge District's 19th Trivia Evening took place on Saturday 21 January at Hildenborough Village Hall. Twenty-three tables of intrepid ringers and hangers-on from all over the District attempted to make the infamous 7.15pm for a "prompt" 7.30pm start, and for the most part they succeeded.

In continuance of the long-standing tradition started in 2011 the previous winners (The No Eye Deers — obviously pessimistic team names can pay off) had the task of setting the questions and acting as quizmeister. So it came about that Nick Byrne from Penshurst was in the hot seat, ably aided and abetted by his two glamorous assistants, Ali Brushfield on scoreboard and daughter Laura who had to rush up and down the hall collecting answer sheets, jokers and so on.

Where they get those names from is always a mystery, but we do have some inside information on the title chosen by the winners this year. Ray Taylor, a member of the victorious team, tells us: The name "Neeps & Tatties" was inspired by the proximity of Burns night and the haggis-flavoured snacks that the two English lady team members brought. Very fitting that whisky was part of the prize! So now we know.

Thanks are due to Janice and Nick Byrne for setting the questions, and especially to Nick for reading them out and keeping the whole thing running smoothly and the punters (mostly) under control. He also organised the score sheets and jokers. Thanks are also due to kitchen staff and waitresses — Bobbie Fairclough, Janice Byrne, Roy and Dot Twiner (chained to the kitchen sink, except when chained to the stoves), Phil Jones (chained to a tea-towel) and Catherine Heathcote. Bobbie needs chaining after the incident with the strapless cooking apron. [This latter comment is not, repeat NOT, the work of Webmaster, but anyone who can furnish further information might be in with a chance in the Jubilee Honours list — though please no phone hacking.] Thanks also to all those who produced casseroles and/or puddings, to Eric for manning the door, to Dan and Rebecca for helping to set out the tables and chairs, and of course to all punters who came along, spent money and generally enjoyed themselves. The next Trivia Evening will be the TWENTIETH, so the Neeps & Tatties have quite a task working out their strategy for 2013. No pressure . . .

Lastly, congratulations and commiserations as appropriate to the teams:

All in all the evening was its usual great success, with around 140 people attending. The profit going to the KCACR BRF will be £1094 (of which a whopping great £311 came from the raffle), up by 13% on the £964 we raised last year (eat your heart out, Tesco!) Click on the thumbnails below to display a larger picture. If you hover your cursor on the left or right of a picture you'll see a "prev" or "next" box. Click on these to navigate. Users with touchscreens may not see the words "prev" or "next", but touching the right or left of the picture will still work. When you've had enough click on "close".

Catherine says she was a touch amazed by her birthday card. It was lovely to read it and discover just how many friends had snuck away and signed it. Very very many thanks.

Catherine xx

Chevening

We're sorry to have to report that regular practices at Chevening have been cancelled for the time being (ie as from January 2012). We'll let you know when things change. In the meantime we still ring at 9.45am on Sundays.

The latest edition of Look to (currently 2012 First Quarter) is now available online. Actually you don't have to download it, you can just read it online if you like. Simply click on the Look to link at the top of this page. The email address for Alex Staff, Look to's editor, is what_moriarty@hotmail.com. Snail-mail contributions should be sent to Leydens Cottage, Hartfield Road, Stick Hill, Edenbridge TN8 5NH. Note that the copy date for the next issue is Friday 23 March.

New email address for Tonbridge District secretary

Tony Cresswell, our secretary, has a new email address for District matters. He may now be contacted on tondist@gmail.com.

125 years of the St Peter and St Paul Change Ringing Society

One of the boards which decorate the Tonbridge ringing chamber walls commemorates the occasion of the founding of the St Peter and St Paul Change Ringing Society. One day a group of 14 gentlemen met and formally set up the Society. 125 years later members of the current Society met to celebrate the event.

9 December 1886 was the auspicious day that the Society was formed. This year the 9th fell on a Friday, practice night. What better to way to celebrate such a momentous occasion than to ring a quarter peal? To make it that much more appropriate this was not just a normal quarter peal of 1260 changes, we would ring 1250. Tim got his composing hat on and came up with a composition with a slightly different start for the bells, but then we would ring Plain Bob Major.

We arranged for the quarter to be rung before the practice and afterwards we rang a touch of 125 Grandsire Triples for those who could not participate in the quarter. The photo below pictures all ringers taking part.

Afterwards we celebrated with liquid refreshment and sausages, and had a slightly more relaxed practice than usual. The 100 years anniversary had been celebrated in 1986 with four quarter peals, with some of the ringers able to participate in both. We look forward to celebrating again in another 25 years!

Rhoda Willson

Carol service 2011

A leather camera case was left behind at Kemsing by someone. If it was you, please contact Fraser Clift (fraserclift@aol.com) to arrange repatriation.

This year's carol service at Kemsing on 10 December was a joint venture with the East Grinstead and District Guild, and we were pleased to have quite a few EGDG members with us. The event wasn't as well attended as some in the past, but the main aisle of the church was pretty full, and an enthusiastic congregation belted out the old faithfuls as (probably) only ringers can. An interesting innovation this year was the presence of the newly-formed Tonbridge District Wind Trio (see photo below) accompanying the organist — thanks to you all, this really worked well. The usual mulled wine seemed to go down well too. (What would we do without Delia?)

Thanks are due to all those who put in a lot of effort to make a success of this event once again. Just over £31 was raised for the Bell Restoration Fund. A few photos appear below to give an impression of the evening. Click on the thumbnails to display a larger picture. If you hover your cursor on the left or right of a picture you'll see a "prev" or "next" box. Click on these to navigate. Users with touchscreens may not see the words "prev" or "next", but touching the right or left of the picture will still work. When you've had enough click on "close".

Tonbridge clapper goes wheelies

Angela Clark sends us this interesting snippet: The Tonbridge steeplekeeper, Martin Willson, devised a useful way to transport the tenor clapper to Whitechapel for attention recently. He strapped it to the crossbar of his bike and rode it to Tonbridge station, changed trains at both Orpington and New Cross, then pedalled his way to the bell foundry. Once the clapper had been dealt with, which only took a few days, it was collected by Gordon Hill in his car and is now safely back in its bell.

Quarter peal week 2011

The quarter peal week (22 - 30 October) is behind us, and Eric's prepared his annual writeup to show how well we all did.

Starting on 22 October for nine days the event got off to a rather bad start with failed attempts at Lamberhurst and Chiddingstone on the first day. On the following day Grandsire Triples at Hawkhurst ran into trouble and even the following attempt at Grandsire Doubles failed. Add to that the loss of Plain Bob Triples at Sevenoaks and things were not looking good.

However, perseverance paid off and from Monday onwards there was complete success with 11 quarters being rung. But the "out of District" 10-bell attempt at Staplehurst had its own difficulties with four of the band being delayed by an accident on the A21. Many thanks are due to Sue and Chris Bassett for helping the remainder of the band to ring a very respectable quarter of Stedman Triples. On the bright side there were six firsts. On the down side only 31 District members rang in the 11 successful quarters from a membership of around 240, and only 11 towers were used for attempts out of 29; but for those that took part it was an enjoyable experience.

Next year the quarter peal week will be part of the Association event and perhaps with a royal occasion to mark we will achieve a much wider involvement.

Congratulations to the "firsts", especially the first quarters and first inside. Thank you to all who took part and especially the conductors, without whom it would not have taken place.

Eric Roughley

Brief details of the quarters are given below, with personal firsts.

Edenbridge, 23 October: 1260 PB Doubles: Clive Lumsden 1, Jane Wilson 2, Richard Dyson 3, Ian Henderson 4, Eric Roughley (c) 5, Robert Dunn 6. Rung for Sevenoaks District Council Civic Service.
Lamberhurst, 24 October: 1296 Cambridge S Minor: Fraser Clift 1, Bobbie Fairclough 2, Catherine Lewis 3, Tim Lynch 4, Frank Lewis 5, Catherine Heathcote (c) 6
Cowden, 24 October: 1260 Grandsire Doubles: Clive Lumsden 1, Fraser Clift 2, Dee Clift 3, Andrew Wickenden (1st in m) 4, Eric Roughley (c) 5, Frank Shepherd 6
Chiddingstone, 24 October: 1260 Grandsire Triples: Dee Clift (1st on 8) 1, Rebecca Prinsloo (1st on 8) 2, Fraser Clift 3, Alan King 4, Stella Wooldridge 5, Pamela Thomas 6, Eric Roughley (c) 7, Cory Furness 8
Kemsing, 25 October: 1260 PB Minor: Rebecca Prinsloo 1, Bobbie Fairclough 2, Dee Clift (1st in m) 3, Fraser Clift 4, Eric Roughley 5, Tim Lynch (c) 6. A Happy Birthday to Astrid Fairclough
Staplehurst, 26 October: 1260 Stedman Triples: Eric Roughley 1, Catherine Heathcote 2, Sue Bassett 3, Michael Bullett 4, Catherine Lewis 5, Christopher Bassett 6, Anthony Leeves (c) 7, Frank Lewis 8. In substitution for the planned Grandsire Caters after 4 of the band were stranded on the A21, and with grateful thanks to Sue and Chris for standing in at short notice
Kemsing, 28 October: 1320 Kent TB Minor: Eric Roughley 1, Juliet Austin (1st TB) 2, Catherine Lewis (c) 3, Catherine Heathcote 4, Fraser Clift 5, Frank Lewis 6.
Speldhurst, 29 October: 1260 Grandsire Triples: Penny Gerrard 1, Tim Lynch 2, Jacqui Fletcher 3, Anthony Leeves (c) 4, Stella Wooldridge 5, Eric Roughley 6, Alan King 7, Crispin Saunders 8. 75th of Grandsire Triples for 7
Kemsing, 30 October: 1260 Doubles (1p,3m): Dee Clift 1, Bobbie Fairclough 2, Rebecca Prinsloo 3, Fraser Clift (c) 4, Godfrey Croughton 5, Ralph Harding 6. For the combined communion service with Woodlands
Otford, 30 October: 1260 PB Minor: Bobbie Fairclough 1, Juliet Austin 2, Astrid Fairclough 3, Pam Thomas 4, Fraser Clift 5, Tim Lynch (c) 6. Marking the return to use of the bells following work on the tower
Brasted, 30 October: 1344 PB Major: Gemma Rumsey (1st of major on tower bells) 1, Bobbie Fairclough 2, Juliet Austin 3, John Palmer 4, Anthony Leeves 5, Catherine Lewis (c) 6, Frank Lewis 7, Catherine Heathcote 8. A birthday compliment to Caroline Stockmann. Sponsored for Save the Children.

Otford back in action (though maybe not for long)

We're very pleased to receive the following update from Bobbie Fairclough, Otford tower captain: Otford bells are back in use for about five months although the tower remains wrapped in scaffolding and tarpaulins. This is while the walls of the tower are, hopefully, drying out having had all the concrete render removed and various timbers repaired and strengthened. Thursday evening practices have resumed and Sunday ringing started on Remembrance Sunday, 13 November. I should warn visitors that conditions are rather spartan. The small windows have no glass and the room slightly resembles an abandoned building site. Visitors are welcome but should come suitably dressed with several layers of warm clothing. The dust is unavoidable. All this said, the Otford ringers are pleased to be back at home. Since May several local towers have kindly allowed us to use their bells for our practice nights and we are most grateful. Unfortunately ringing will have to stop again some time next year for a few months while the builders apply lime render to the exterior and interior of the tower. It was good to see, too, that no time was lost in ringing the first quarter on the bells since the end of May. Keep 'em coming Bobbie! The photo on the right shows St Bart's all ready and Christmas-wrapped.

Mark Mead

We're very sorry to have to announce the death on 16 October of Mark Mead of Hever. He was in his 92nd year and had been a KCACR member since about 1988. The funeral was on 25 October, and a quarter peal was rung to his memory on Sunday 6 November.

ADM 2011

At the ADM held at Chevening on 1 October 2011 there were a few changes made. Jane Nielson stood down after eight years in post and was replaced by Angela Clark, while Tessa Worthington (secretary) handed over to Tony Cresswell, who is thus a new member of the committee. There was a bit of confusion over the election of District reps on the KCACR general committee, but it seems the following were elected unopposed for 2011/12:

Chairman: Angela Clark Secretary: Tony Cresswell Treasurer: Mike Bullett Ringing Masters: Catherine Heathcote and Tim Lynch District reps on General Committee: Eric Roughley, Tessa Worthington Committee members: Bobbie Fairclough, Phil Jones, Alex Staff (also Look to editor), Mike Worthington

Our new District Chairman

120 Club

The fourth draw of the 2011/2012 series took place on 7 January at the Quarterly Meeting at Sevenoaks, and details are shown below. The brown background entries are the current series, while the blue ones are last year's for interest and comparison.

Ray Taylor, the Club's treasurer, writes:

The 2011 season of the Tonbridge District 120 Club got off to a great start at the ADM at Chevening on 1 October, with a few changes to report. This year it was possible for shares to be renewed online, and 19 shares were renewed that way. Renewing online is great for me because it saves me having to make trips to the bank to pay in your cheques and cash. If you decide to renew online in future please don't forget to include your share number as your reference. It is very difficult to know which share has been renewed with just a bank code for reference!

The second change this year concerns prizes. The club rules state how prizes are to be allocated if fewer than 120 shares are taken up, but not what to do if more than 120 shares are sold. This year, 130 shares were sold prior to the first draw. FANTASTIC! Tessa (Promoter) and I (Treasurer) decided that additional prize money should be allocated. When the Tonbridge District 120 Club was set up, 45% (£540) of the potential annual fund (£1,200) was allocated as prize money each year. We have decided that, at the first draw of the season held at each ADM, 45% of any fund over £1,200 should be awarded as a bonus prize. So the extra 10 shares sold before the ADM draw meant an increased fund of £100 and therefore a bonus prize of £45. That explains why this month's draw results [see above] look a little different to previous ones.

If 140 shares are sold next year the extra £200 fund will result in a bonus prize of £90 at the 2012 ADM. It was agreed at the 2011 ADM that the first three numbers drawn at the ADM should be re-entered into the bonus draw, so there is potential for you to win two prizes in the same draw.

A brief summary of the rules is given below:

• Anyone over 16 can buy shares in the Club (registered charity) at £10 each — it's not restricted to KCACR members or even to ringers.
• Each share has a number which goes into a draw at a District event, starting with the ADM in October and ending with the quarterly meeting in July. There are no draws in August or September.
• The prizes are usually £20, £15 and £10, but they are doubled in the months of October and January, and, as described above, there may be a bonus draw at the ADM.
• All numbers go into the draws, whether taken up or not, and the proceeds from the 120 Club go to the KCACR Bell Restoration Fund, which is also a registered charity.

If you would like to buy a share then please contact me on 07973 123323 or at ray.taylor@easynet.co.uk or download an application form here.

Thanks to everyone who has bought shares and is helping to make this so successful.

. . . and to you Ray for all the work you put in.

KCACR shirts

Embroidered KCACR shirts are available again. Colours and sizes are listed below, and a sample of the logo is shown on the right. I hope to order at frequent intervals. Payment needed with order or very soon after. Please send orders to me at Mallans, 27 Main Road, Sundridge, Sevenoaks TN14 6EF (cheques to me) or to cmlewis@btinternet.com (bank account and sort code can be provided for electronic transfer). Catherine Lewis

T-shirts (£12.00)	Black, Heather, Navy, White, Apricot, Ash, Azure (blue), Bottle Green, Brick Red, Burgundy, Charcoal, Chocolate, Classic Olive, Deep Navy, Kelly Green, Khaki, Light Graphite, Light Pink, Natural, Purple, Orange, Red, Royal Blue, Sky Blue, Steel Blue, Sunflower (in 3XL: Black, White or Deep Navy only) Available in S, M, L, XL, XXL, 3XL
Polo shirts (£13.00)	Black, Heather, Navy, White, Bottle Green, Burgundy, Deep Navy, Emerald, Kelly Green, Purple, Orange, Red, Royal Blue, Sky Blue, Sky Blue, Sunflower Available in S, M, L, XL, XXL, 3XL (in 3XL: Black or White only)
Raglan sweatshirts (£18.50)	Black, Bottle Green, Burgundy, Deep Navy, Emerald, Heather, Kelly Green, Navy, Purple, Red, Royal Blue, Sky Blue Available in S, M, L, XL, XXL
Long sleeved rugby shirts (£29.50)	Main/Trim: Bright Green/White; Black/White; Bright Pink/White; Deep Purple/Deep Purple; Light Pink/Light Pink; Navy/White; Red/White; Royal Blue/White; Surf Blue/White; White/White Available in S, M, L, XL, XXL, 3XL (in 3XL: Black, White or Navy only)
Full- and half-zip fleeces (£25.50)	Black, Bottle, Deep Navy, Red, Royal Blue, Smoke Available in S, M, L, XL, XXL

Joint Tonbridge and Lewisham District outing to London

The Tonbridge and Lewisham Districts joined forces and ran a joint outing up to the Smoke on 13 August 2011. Pauline Middlewick from from Lamberhurst sends this impression of the day:

WHAT A GRAND DAY OUT! A group of about 30 people from Tonbridge and Lewisham met on a rather damp Saturday morning in August outside St James' Church in Bermondsey. In this tower the eight bells were cast from cannon left behind by Napoleon at Waterloo! A short walk away was St Mary with All Saints, Rotherhithe (another eight), where the bells had probably rung for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth I. The next two towers each had 10 bells — St Anne's, Limehouse and St Dunstan's, Stepney. Whereas the first three churches were largely brick built and quite large, St Dunstan's was reminiscent of many of our own village churches, being far smaller and built from Kentish ragstone. Those bells were the ones commemorated in the rhyme Oranges and lemons . . . "when will that be, say the bells of Stepney".

After that we travelled on a bus to what we were all waiting for — the 12 recently recast bells of St Michael, Cornhill. For those of us who had seldom rung on more than six bells the whole day was a great experience — for in the group there was a good mixture of skilful ringers and those with less confidence. We heard methods such as Grandsire Caters and Stedman Cinques rung magnificently by our accomplished teams and for those who felt less secure ringing on more than six bells there were plenty of opportunities to ring rounds and call changes on the eight, 10 and 12 bell rings. For me, the highlights were being able to ring plain hunt on nine (with a little support in the background!), and also having the chance to be part of a 12-bell band ringing at St Michael's. My own self confidence has increased considerably and I thoroughly enjoyed the whole day.

Thanks go to Tim and Catherine for organising the day and to everyone who turned out and made the day such a success.

Thanks very much to Rupert Cheeseman for some splendid photos of the day's events.

Click on the thumbnails to display a larger picture. If you hover your cursor on the left or right of a picture you'll see a "prev" or "next" box. Click on these to navigate. Users with touchscreens may not see the words "prev" or "next", but touching the right or left of the picture will still work. When you've had enough click on "close".

Brasted now has a website again

St Martin's, Brasted, ringers now have their very own website again. We had a bit of a debate with the original hosting site, who tried to up their charges by around 75%, and it took a while to find another host and get up and running again. The address is www.brastedringingco.org.uk. Not much has been done to the site for some months due to the outage, but hopefully there will be some more recent news in due course. Give it a burst and let the webmaster know what you you think

Striking competition 2011

The District striking competition took place at Leigh on 7 May 2011 when seven teams took part. Once again this year we had the rather novel idea of mixing the call change bands with the method people.

The judges were Rupert Cheeseman and Sue Cameron from the Lewisham District, who judged the bands as they came along, some ringing methods and some ringing call changes.

Click on the thumbnails to display a larger picture. If you hover your cursor on the left or right of a picture you'll see a "prev" or "next" box. Click on these to navigate. Users with touchscreens may not see the words "prev" or "next", but touching the right or left of the picture will still work. When you've had enough click on "close".

The chairman proposed a vote of thanks to the judges, the vicar for the use of the bells, and to all others who had worked to make a successful event. After the judging she presented both the judges with suitable bottles (presumably not lemonade? — but we were not let into the secret).

Whilst on the subject of striking competitions, it transpired that the latest version of the District rules on the Kent site was a bit out of date. Apologies for this, but webmaster can only update stuff if he's told about it. The current rules are now available at Tonbridge District striking competition rules.

Maundy Money for Margaret

We were very pleased to learn that Margaret McKendrick of Otford was going to receive the Maundy Money at Westminster Abbey this year, and we were even more pleased to receive her account of the ceremony, together with a couple of piccies. She writes:

I am usually only seen in the village at 7.30am on Easter Sunday, but I did manage to catch the train to Victoria with the rest of our small group and we strolled down to Church House next to the Abbey. There was then a slight hiccup as a long queue had developed which seemed surprising. However, quite a number of recipients had come from the Isle of Man and other overseas dioceses and they had luggage with them. This all had to be put through the police scanners and took quite a time. I found myself standing beside a tall gentleman in a purple cassock — the first time I had met a bishop in the street. (He was Sodor and Man.) Our companions and friends were separated from us and directed to the Abbey — they had rather a long wait but were able to listen to fine music from the organ. We were ushered into a large room with seats numbered as were our tickets, and were given coffee and final advice — we should stand when the Queen approached, the gentlemen to bow and the ladies to curtsey, but not to worry if we could not, the Queen would understand. We were after all "respectable elderly paupers". When all had arrived, we were reminded to visit the loo as it was a long morning and then ushered across Dean's Yard, through the cloisters and into the Abbey.

My seat was in the North Transept, two rows in from the front and almost opposite the Queen's chair, with a large television screen on the nearest pillar. A long procession of Church officials went past plus the officials of the Royal Almonry Office and the Yeomen of the Guard. I was quite surprised to see the Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster and the Head of the Orthodox Church in the line. My bishop in the queue read the first lesson and the Duke of Edinburgh the second and there was a distribution of alms after each. I was determined to curtsey and smile when the Queen came — I did curtsey but don't know if I smiled. The Queen put the two leather purses into my hands and said "This is for you" and it was over. She did that 170 times, to a man and a woman for each year of her age. The red purse held a £5 coin minted for the 90th birthday of Prince Philip and a 50p Olympic Games coin. The white purse held 85 silver pence in 1, 2, 3 and 4 pence pieces. The 3 pence pieces were almost identical with the [silver] 3d pieces my mother used to put in the Christmas pudding long ago. They are all legal tender, but their value is much more than the face value.

Margaret with her two leather purses, and a closeup of the coins

When the Queen finally left the Dean's Lodging after the service a group of us were still in Dean's Yard so we sang "Happy Birthday "and I think she was amused as she had a broad smile on her face.

It will be 15 years before the Maundy Ceremony comes back to Westminster and I do not think I or the Queen will be about to see it, so it was a great honour to be invited to this one.

Well done, Margaret. Don't give up on going to Westminster again though — more and more folk are hitting the century these days! For more details about this ceremony, which dates back to the 1200s, have a look at: http://www.royalmint.com/Corporate/facts/Maundy.aspx

Christchurch local connection

Not everyone in the Tonbridge District will know that we, or certain District members, have rather special memories of Christchurch cathedral: Mike and Tessa Worthington of Sevenoaks first met there.

Mike picks up the story: Tessa was a social worker in Christchurch and I was working in the Cooper Basin in the middle of Australia. In 1979 they dedicated the augmented 12 at Christchurch and a number of ringers from Australia went across for that event and the ANZAB AGM the following week. Because travel is expensive over the long distances between ANZAB towers it's common for local ringers to offer accommodation to any visitors for such events and I ended up being billeted with Miss Tessa Hollis. I had a picture in my mind of a tweedy elderly spinster so I must say I had some reservations when I was being taken to the house after we arrived, but things didn't turn out too badly!

Sad that the bells which are the very reason we met now lie in a heap of rubble in the tower, but much sadder what has happened to thousands of people's lives.

A quarter of Plain Bob Doubles was rung at Sevenoaks on Sunday 27 February in memory of those who perished in Christchurch. This was the first quarter for Michael Stuttard, to whom congratulations. Details may be found here.

There is also a link to the ANZAB website here.

Memorial service for Leslie Fox

Leslie Fox, at one time a ringer at Edenbridge, passed away at the beginning of December 2010. He is understood to have been a strong supporter of many things to do with the church, before he moved to the west country. He was a KCACR member of Edenbridge band between 1960 and 1969, although he may have been ringing there later, albeit not as a KCACR member.

He rang two peals at Edenbridge, both of Grandsire Triples. The first was rung for the East Grinstead & District Guild in November 1963 and the second was for KCACR in January 1965 (in memoriam Winston Churchill), and he rang the tenor on both occasions. The 1963 peal was also Brian Jeffrey's first as conductor.

Leslie's family held a memorial service at Edenbridge on 2 April 2011 prior to interment of his ashes at Four Elms later in the afternoon.

Programme of events for 2012/13

Once again we've produced a programme to last around to the first quarter of 2013. This is to ensure that all events appear in the KCACR Handbook right round until the next edition.

For a downloadable copy of the programme to go on your tower noticeboard click here. Print it out on a bit of coloured paper so it stands out.

Brasted bell to be hung for ringing in South Africa

A bell discovered in the back garden of a house opposite the church in Brasted has found a new home in Johannesburg. More of the story here.

Legal proceedings at Otford?

Thought this sounded good fun. A quarter was rung on a recent Sunday at Otford, after a confirmation service. The people being confirmed were mainly youngsters and they were told that we were going to try to ring a quarter peal to mark the event. One of the little dears slightly mis-heard this and later told his Mum that the ringers were going to have a Court of Appeal for the confirmation. We know that people are getting increasingly litigious these days, but this seems a step too far.

What can I send? A write-up of your tower outing, your ringing tips and hints (anything from learning bellhandling to Spliced Surprise), historical snippets from the history of your tower, anecdotes from an interesting practice you attended on holiday, other announcements and — of course — your quarter peals and peals! Send your articles to: what_moriarty@hotmail.com [note that it's what_moriarty, and not a space in there] or Leydens Cottage, Hartfield Road, Stick Hill, Edenbridge TN8 5NH

Tonbridge District mailing list

After a lot of thought, and following discussion at District committee meetings, it was decided that we would set up a District emailing group, and this is your invitation to join this group.

Several other KCACR Districts have such a group and they are proving very useful as a means of talking to other ringers in the area. Quite a few people use the lists to drum up ringers for weddings or quarter peals, announce cancelled practice nights, remind folk that subs are due, that articles are due in for the District newsletter, or that tickets are on sale for this, that or the other event. You could ask for help in learning to ring something. Reminders may well be sent out that there's a meeting coming up. And so on.

The system works pretty simply. At the end of all this blurb there is a box [Subscribe to tonbridge group] to enable you to join the list. Enter your email address and click on the logo. The system will then send you an email to confirm that you really do want to sign up. The email will give you the option to go to Yahoo! Groups or reply by clicking reply and then send. If you want the simple life choose the latter. The other option offers more facilities but unless you're happy with online registrations you might wish to avoid this for now (you can always change your setup at a later date).

I have to approve applications, so there should be no chance of unwanted subscribers slipping in. One of the parts of your application is your email address. Note that you can only post messages from this address, and not from any other addresses (such as work ones) you might have. This again is to ensure that no rogue postings slip through.

Once you're signed up you can post messages to a single address for all other members of the group to read and, if they feel like it, reply — again to all the group. Think of it as a crowd sitting round a table in a pub after ringing.

Go on, be adventurous and sign up. It seems a great idea to use modern technology to help link ringers who practise very old technology.

If you have any queries or are unsure what this is all about, please get in touch here and I'll try to help.

Frank Lewis

Chiddingstone history

There's a long and detailed history of the bells at Chid on their local history website. It was written by Lucile Corby and has an enormous amount of information covering over 400 years. Well worth a visit — click here to check it out.

For training day and general information ring the ringing master: Catherine Heathcote on 01892 785577 (email catherineheathcote@btinternet.com). The District secretary may be contacted at tondist@btinternet.com.